I did not know he worked in Hollywood, where his first job was working as George Carlin’s [the famous comedian] assistant. I remember hearing the, “Seven words you can never say on television,” skit. Most of those words I had heard on the playground, but couldn’t admit to my parents.

Berry stated in the article that Carlin told him: “Words are just words, he would argue, it’s the context of those words that’s the key. The motivation and intent behind what someone was saying was the key. The idea that one word was bad while another was safe was insane to him.”

So how does this apply to solicitations and contracts?

How the government states requirements, proposal preparation instructions, and evaluation criteria matter. What most solicitations and contracts lack is context.

For the past several years, the government has directed that innovation be made a key ingredient of acquisition. Industry has embraced this idea, and it has become a standard practice.

Many Department of Defense (DoD) suppliers have stood up innovation cells within their organization, whereas others have claimed that their entire organization is the innovation cell.

So what other practices can we embrace in order to improve acquisition? What should we be doing more of in order to develop and deliver quality products, on time, at an affordable price? One thing we can do is ensure we maximize collaboration between all stakeholders when developing new requirements, designing new products, or resolving issues on existing programs.

The role of today’s “contract manager” continues to change. How and why it is doing so depends on one’s perspective, but from the private to public sector it is converging.

At the federal level, contract managers develop and manage contract vehicles between both parties; interpret and implement the myriad laws and regulations required for inclusion; provide sound business advice in the execution of pre-award and post-award functions, use a wide range of common contracting methods and contract types; develop and/or review complex pricing arrangements; conduct meetings with contractors on sensitive and/or acquisition-related issues as an authoritative contractual representative when warranted; assist in the procurement of standard or specialized services, commodities and/or construction within a contracting office;execute and track deliverables until final contract closeout, etc. This traditional “cradle to grave” responsibility is (to the extent it wasn’t already) a growing role at the state and local public procurement level as well.

Some government organizations, or the contract managers themselves, view their role as compliance and process enforcement, while others see it as much more. However, in going beyond traditional roles, should contract manager involvement start much earlier and be more comprehensive, including requirements definition, acquisition strategy and planning, spend analysis, source selection, supply chain management, project management, and the external relationships from beginning to end?